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(No Model.)

J. H. ROBERTSON. GRIP MECHANISM PUR CABLE RAILWAYS. No. 484,920.Patented ont. 25, 1892.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN H. ROBERTSON,

OF NEW' YORK, N. Y.

GRIP MECHANISM FOR CABLE RAILWAY'S.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 484,920, dated October25, 1892.

Application filed March 21, 1892. Serial No. 425,785. (No model.)

T0 @ZZ whom t may concer/'n.-

Be it known that I, JOHN H. ROBERTSON, of New York, in the county andState of New York, have invented a new and useful Improvement in GripMechanism for Cable Railways, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to an improvement in grip mechanism for cablerailways, with the object in view of providing for the prompt throw-outof the cable and for the further object of taking up the wear upon thegrippingdies by the adjustment of the dies themselves.

A practical embodiment of my invention is represented in theaccompanying drawings, in which- Figure l is a view of the grip in sideelevation, partly in section. Fig. 2 is a top plan view. Fig. 3 is atransverse vertical central section, and Fig. ft is a view in detail ofone end of the throw-out. j

A represents the head-frame of the grip, provided with the at hangers Band B', depending therefrom and forming a Support for the upperstationary jaw C of the grip and the base-piece or runner D, as isusual. The movable lower jaw O is fixed to the broad central plate E,occupying a position between the hangers B B' and spaced therefrom andprovided with a cross-head e, to which the operating-links f and f' arepivoted at their lower ends. The upper ends of said links ff' arepivoted to the short arms of the operating angle-levers F and F'. One ofthe operatinglevers F F-in the present instance F-is bifurcated orformed in duplicate, as clearly represented in Fig. 2, and the otheroperatinglever-in the present instance F' is located centrally betweenthe parts of the lever F, so that when strain is exerted simultaneouslyupon the parts of the lever F it will be equally distributed uponopposite sides of the central plane of the grip, and the same will betrue when strain is exerted upon the operating-lever F', and hence inoperating the movable jaw to draw it into engagement with the cable to`grip the latter between the movable and stationary jaws there will beno tendency to sway the grip-frame out of its central plane parallelwith the walls of the slot in the slotiron, and the wear upon thediagonal opposite edges of the frame will be thereby materially reduced.

The gripping-dies in the movable lower janr are represented by c, andthey are secured within sockets in said jaws by means of screws G, whichengage screw-threaded sockets c', extending through from the face to theback of said dies, the heads g of said screws being seated upon' bossesc2, provided upon the upper sides of flanges c3, extending laterallyfrom the base of the movable jaw C'. The heads g of the screws arepreferably squared for the purpose of receivinga wrench to turn them,and they are provided with jam-nuts g' for the purpose of locking themin position.

I find it convenient to make the heads of the screws G small enough topermit of the screw-head being passed through the screwthreaded socketc' in the die and the screw turned downwardly through the die from itsface toward its back until the end of the screw has reached a positionfiush with the gripping-faces of the die. As the faces of the die cbecome worn away the dies themselves may be set upwardly independentlyof the jaw C by turning the screws G and locking them in theiradjustments, the pressure upon the die when forced into contact with thecable to grip it being then transmitted through the screws G to theflanges c3 of the jaw. By this means I am enabled to adjust either oneof the dies with great accuracy and independently of the other die andwithout disturbing the relative positions of the stationary and movablejaws, and a Worn-out die may be readily replaced whenever occasionrequires.

Between the plate E and the hangers B and B', I locate strips II and H'for carrying the devices for throwing the cable out of the jaws. Thestrips H and H' have a limited vertical movement independent of themovable jaw, and the ends of thehead-frame care arranged to embrace thestrips, as at e', and form guides therefor. The upper ends of saidstrips are connected with operating-levers h and h', theoperating-levers themselves being connected by a rod h2 forsimultaneously operating them. To the lower ends of the stripsHand Hthere is secured a bar I, to the ends of which depending arms 't' aresecured, or the latter might be formed integral with the barl. The

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bar I and the strips H H', to which the bar is secured, form avertically-reciprocating frame for supporting and operating thedepending arms which effect the throw-out independently of the movementof the movable jaw. The arms vl extend downwardly through the base ofthe stationary jaw O and are provided with grooves in their sides forthe reception of corresponding ribs or feathers on the ends of themovable jaw C. The lower .ends of the arms t are provided withoutwardly-flaring wings t?, which when the cable is running between thejaws are located below the cable and out of contact therewith. When,however, it is desired to nnship or throw out the cable from between thejaws, it is only necessary to raise the bar I and with it the arms t,and the flaring tops of the wings 'i2 will thereby lift and at the sametime force outwardly the cable without any liability of failure. Thisconstruction of throw-ont obviates the difficulty which has heretoforearisen by the cutting of a groove in the throw-ont undei` the continuonsaction of the cable and the consequent liability of the cable becomingcaught in such groove when the throw-out is brought into action. Thepresent structure provides for distributing such slight wear as may takeplace along the entire slanting top of the wings i2, so that there willat no time be a groove eut therein. It will further be observed that thepresent structure is eminently simple in that the arms and their wingsmay be formed integral and the Whole lifted directly by the lifting ofthe bar I.

Vhat I claim is- 1. A grip-jaw provided with a laterally-extended base,a gripping-die set within the jaw, and adjusting devices engaged withthe die and seated upon the base of the jaw for adj ust-ing the dierelatively to the jaw to take up wear, substantially as set forth.

2. The grip-jaw provided with seats on the upper sides of the flangesextending laterally from its base, a gripping-die seated in the jaw, andscrews engaged with the die and resting at one end on the said seats onthe base for forcing the die toward the opposite jaw to take up wear,substantially as set forth.

3. In combination, a grip-frame, the gripjaws, and the throw-out, thelatter comprising a vertically-reciprocating frame having arms dependingfrom its ends and provided with slanting-faced projections for engagingthe cable, said depending arms with the slant ing-faced projectionsbeing independent in their movement of the movements of the movablegripping-jaw, substantially as set forth.

4. In combination, a grip-frame, grip-jaws, and a throw-out, the lattercomprising a vertically-reciprocating frame having depending arms at itsends, the depending arms having slanting-faced projections and 'a'tongue-andgroove connection with the movable grippingjaw, whereby themovement of the throw-out is wholly independent of the movablegripping-jaw, substantially as set forth.

JOHN H. ROBERTSON. Witnesses:

FREDK. IIAYNES, I. B. DECKER.

